Egypt's Sisi says army role to continue for a decade

The army chief allegedly defends efforts to provide a constitutional immunity for the military establishment in Egypt's amended charter, in the leaked recording.

Africa

02 Kasım 2013 Cumartesi 11:56

World Bulletin/News Desk

A leaked audio recording purportedly by Egyptian army chief and Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has showed the top general saying that the military will maintain its role in Egypt's affairs for about a decade.

The Jazeera Mubasher Misr released the audio recording of comments said to have been made by al-Sisi during a recent interview with Yasser Rizk, editor-in-chief of prominent Egyptian daily Al-Masry al-Youm.

In the leaked recording, the army chief allegedly defends efforts to provide a constitutional immunity for the military establishment in Egypt's amended charter.

"This establishment has been playing a role and will continue to play this role for a period between five to ten years regardless of whoever runs the country," al-Sisi purportedly says.

Last month, the Rassd News Network published an audio recording of al-Sisi in which he allegedly called for providing a constitutional immunity for himself if he is not elected Egypt's president.

In the new leaked tape, the army chief allegedly says that "the army can't be left in the hands of someone (the president) in light of the current turmoil" in the country.

He allegedly argues that "this person could unintentionally undermine the military establishment".

Al-Sisi is allegedly heard criticizing a decision by ousted president Mohamed Morsi to sack top military brass last year, blaming what he said "failure of the ruler to assess the reaction and weight of the military establishment".

Shortly after being elected Egypt's first civilian president, Morsi had sacked then defense minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and chief of staff Sami Anan. He had also scraped a constitutional declaration that granted the military establishment sweeping powers.

The authenticity of the recording attributed to al-Sisi could not be verified and there was no immediate comment on the tape by Egyptian authorities.

It was the fifth such leaked recording of the interview which has been published last month to coincide with Egypt's celebrations of the anniversary of the victory over Israel in 1973. The paper dismissed the recordings as "fabricated."